Pleasant Valley High girls basketball team beaten by Nevada Union

CHICO — A 47-40 lead to start the fourth quarter looked good, but the Pleasant Valley High girls basketball team couldn't hold on to the advantage, much like the ball in the closing minutes of Tuesday's home game against Nevada Union.

The Miners outscored the Vikings 23-12 in the fourth quarter for a 63-59 victory at Varley Gym as Sydney Porter had 25 points, and Sammy DeHart added 19 points.

The duo combined for 21 of the Miners' 23 points in that final, fateful period to overcome a double-digit deficit in the second half.

For Pleasant Valley, McKena Barker and Brianna Souza each scored 14 points, but the former battled foul trouble for much of the night.

"I was really just trying to be aggressive on defense because that's what picks my game up and our game up, and I just got some not so smart fouls," said Barker, who scored 13 of her 14 points after halftime but was whistled for her fourth foul with about a minute left in the third quarter.

Adding to the Vikings' woes was that Izzy Bonacorsi — who helped stake PV to a 10-2 lead with five points — fought an illness for much of the night that got the better of her as the game wore on. She finished with seven points, and Kristina Joyce added eight points.

Nevada Union's Emma Peterson added 13 points, including three 3-pointers in the first half that kept the Miners (9-4) in the game until Porter and DeHart took over as part of a defensive effort that forced PV (8-5) into crucial turnovers.

"We really didn't turn it over all game, and then last three minutes we turned it over like six times," Vikings coach Tony Carlisle said.

In the second quarter, Nevada Union led by as much as five, but a Joyce 3 drew PV within 24-22.

The Vikings then took a 29-26 halftime lead thanks to free throws. Joyce, Souza and Christa Feingold combined to go 6 of 6 from the line as part of a 7-0 run to close the second quarter.

The Vikings' advantage ballooned to 37-27 in the first few minutes of the third quarter on the second of Dominique Jackson's hook shots.

But Nevada Union got within 39-35 thanks to a 6-0 run on a basket each from Peterson, DeHart and Porter.

Then Nevada Union tied it at 47 with a 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter.

A Courtney Holloway basket returned the lead to PV at 49-47. That was just the start of a fourth-quarter fight.

A Souza 3 tied it at 52, and a Porter free throw tied it for the Miners at 54 with 2:10 left in the game. But one last Nevada Union run left them up 60-54 as DeHart had two baskets and Porter made two free throws.

Barker made two free throws to get PV within 60-56 with 39.5 seconds left. Barker then made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second with 5.2 seconds left. She grabbed the offensive rebound and made a layup to get PV within 62-59, but the Vikings couldn't get the ball back.

"Our offense was better than it's been and against a very good defensive team," Carlisle said. "We'll get better. We'll make sure we don't do those turnovers next time. More power to them. They caused the turnovers. It wasn't we just gave it to them."